This invention relates to a transfer medium holder and, in particular, to a transfer medium holder for use with checks.
There are a number of check management systems in use today wherein the systems are arranged to provide for simultaneous recording on a journal or other record of information being written on a check. Typically, information being entered on a preselected, longitudinally extending area of a check (usually, the area designating the payee and written amount) is imparted to a corresponding longitudinally extending region of the journal.
The journal is provided with a number of such regions (e.g., 26) displaced vertically for entry of the data from a like number of checks. The checks, in turn, are arranged in overlapping or so-called "shingled" fashion so that the preselected longitudinally extending areas of successive checks align with successive vertically displaced longitudinal regions of the journal. Frequently, a ledger card, which may be formed of transfer or pressure sensitive paper such as NCR paper, is inserted between the checks and the journal so as to also capture the information on an associated vertically extending portion of the ledger.
To ensure alignment of the check areas and corresponding journal and ledger card regions and portions, a holder may be provided for holding the checks and journal. The holder has vertically spaced pegs running along one vertical edge and the checks and the journal are provided with holes along their vertical edges or sides. The checks may also be held in a prearranged sequence through gluing in a shingled or stacked fashion. By inserting the journal so that its holes are received by the pegs and then inserting the checks so that their holes are received in certain of the pegs, the preselected areas of successive checks become automatically aligned with successive regions of the journal. The ledger card can then be aligned visually with the appropriate line of the journal and, as a result, the information recorded on the preselected area of each check will be reproduced on the associated portion and region of the ledger and journal, as above described.
In present day systems of the above type, the transfer of the information from each check to the ledger card is via a transfer medium which is supported on the back of each check and is commensurate in area with the preselected area on the face of the check. As a result, after a check is written and removed, the back of the check still retains a remanant strip of the transfer medium. Particularly where the transfer medium is a carbon based medium, this remnant strip is said to obscure the visibility of endorsements which are subsequently applied to the back of the check.
This lessened visibility, in turn, has been said to increase the amount of time it takes to recognize endorsements during the check clearing process. Recent banking legislation aimed at decreasing this processing time has looked to modifications of existing checks and has reduced the willingness of the banking industry to process checks with a transfer medium on their backs. As a result, designers of the above-discussed check management systems are now searching for an alternative to the check transfer strips presently being used.
One proposal for an alternative arrangement is to provide under each check a separate sheet with a transfer medium on its back surface. Writing in the preselected area of the check would thus result in recording on the associated region of the ledger card via the transfer medium on the back surface of the separate sheet. The sheet may then be removed with the check after the check is written. While the use of a separate sheet provides a viable alternative to the use of a transfer medium strip on a check, it also adds significantly to the cost and processing time of the check management system.
Other less expensive approaches are thus being sought. One less expensive approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,206,745 which describes a system for recording preselected areas of individual checks on a ledger. In the system of the '745 patent, a holder of the same size as a check is provided with a longitudinal slot in the same location as the preselected area of the check. A piece of carbon paper is held to the undersurface of the holder spanning the slot. When the check and holder are together situated in overlapping relationship on the ledger, the information being written in the preselected area of the check is transferred to the ledger via the carbon strip in the holder slot. In order to situate each check and the holder over an associated region on the ledger, dash marks are provided on the vertical edges of the ledger, checks and/or holder.
In using the holder of the '745 patent, the user first places the holder behind the check and visibly aligns the holder and/or check until the edges of both are in unison. This places the preselected area of the check in overlapping relationship with the slot in the holder. The user then visibly aligns the dashes on the check and/or holder with the associated dash on the ledger. This situates the preselected check area in overlapping relationship with the associated region on the ledger. The check is then in position to be written and reproduced on the ledger.
Since the above alignment procedures of the '745 patent necessarily rely on the user visibly checking alignments (edges or dashes), they are tedious and make the check writing and recording process slow. As a result, the holder of the '745 patent does not provide an entirely satisfactory alternative to the transfer strips of existing checks.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide a transfer medium holder for checks which eases the difficulty of aligning the transfer medium with a preselected area of each check.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a transfer medium holder for checks which provides substantially automatic alignment of the transfer medium with a preselected area of each check.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a transfer medium holder meeting the aforementioned objects in combination with a check management system.